Chapter 532 - 230: Who Exactly is the Golden Light Wanderer?
Chapter 532: Chapter 230: Who Exactly is the Golden Light Wanderer?
A massive search swept through the Sea of Darkness, and countless deserted islands were meticulously combed.
In the process, they captured many notorious Tribulation Cultivators, all of whom were sent to the Yin Corpse Sect and refined into Corpse Puppets.
However, despite practically turning the Sea of Darkness upside down, no one found any trace of Xiao Chen.
The reason was actually quite simple: he had long since fled beyond the blockade.
With an Escape Speed that was leagues ahead of everyone else, plus his incredibly fast True Essence regeneration, Xiao Chen had crossed the Endless Sea with just his physical body. He hadn’t taken the standard routes at all, so naturally, the Yin Corpse Sect never intercepted him.
By now, he was already tens of thousands of miles beyond their checkpoints.
Completely unaware of this, Dai Fei’ang was still within the blockaded zone, rallying his fellow cultivators for the search. In truth, he was just wasting his breath.
"Whew. Time to rest for a bit."
Landing on a reef that was only about twenty feet square, Xiao Chen used his Flying Sword to carve out a nine-foot-long flat space on the spot. He then lay down and blissfully soaked up the sun for a while.
He properly relieved the exhaustion that came from flying almost nonstop for three days and three nights.
’Might as well take a little nap.’
Xiao Chen closed his eyes in contentment. ’It’s still decent here. Any further out, and I bet suitable resting spots will get harder and harder to find.’
There was another drawback to venturing further out: the lack of detailed Nautical Charts for guidance.
The Eastern Domain didn’t even have a complete understanding of the Storm Sea, classifying it as part of the Outer Sea.
To say nothing of the Kunpeng Sea beyond it, of which they only knew the general area. As for the specifics, they were completely in the dark.
Perhaps only the few Hidden Dao Lineages concealed within might know a little more.
’I wonder if I’ll get to see a living Kunpeng with my own eyes?’
Xiao Chen had heard that the sea was so named because, during the Ancient Times, a Cultivator had personally witnessed a Kunpeng leap from the water and soar ninety thousand li into the heavens.
If he had the chance, he too would love to see for himself this miraculous animal that was both fish and bird.
Of course, this was just a whimsical thought. In reality, it was highly unlikely.
Many Divine Beasts had vanished into the mists of time along with the end of the Ancient Times.
In the clear records of the past few hundred thousand years, not one had made a public appearance.
Sometimes, when Xiao Chen read Ancient Texts, he even suspected that some of the so-called Divine Beasts were pure fabrications, or simply distorted legends.
After all, from what he knew of the cultivation world, it was commonplace for information to get distorted as it spread.
Add the vast gulfs of time into the mix, and it was hard to guarantee how much credibility any surviving information had.
As his thoughts intentionally drifted, Xiao Chen quickly entered a state between waking and dreaming.
Suddenly, he thought he saw a large fish leap from the sea’s surface up ahead.
Its fish scales instantly transformed into feathers, its fins became wings, and it turned into a bird!
Moreover, the bird was getting larger and larger, and closer and closer.
’Hey, wait a minute. Why is it coming for me?’
.
Xiao Chen was eaten.
Before he could react, a long, sharp beak swallowed him—reef and all—in a single gulp.
The culprit was a Sea-Winged Simurgh, a unique type of Spirit Bird that lived on the fringes of the Kunpeng Sea.
It was born blessed with the power of its bloodline, allowing it to reach the Golden Core Stage of cultivation simply by maturing.
Its head was covered in fine golden scales, much like those of a fish.
Its tail feathers, however, were forked like a fishtail. If you didn’t look closely as it skimmed the surface, you could easily mistake it for a Sea Fish breaking the waves.
This behemoth was over six hundred feet long and possessed a beak that stretched sixty feet.
It could effortlessly capture any prey exposed on the sea’s surface, sending it into its gullet to be digested.
Its stomach was exceptionally tough, and most prey was digested quickly. Only a few things could hold out for several days.
For instance, Xiao Chen saw half a Fish Bone floating on the surface of the acidic liquid.
"Damn, and here I thought I’d seen a Kunpeng."
He stood up. The reef beneath his feet was already dissolving at a rapid pace.
But it was no big deal. As a Body Cultivator, he had plenty of strength and methods to deal with this.
"Hah—!"
A pained shriek rang out as a large hole was suddenly torn open in the Sea-Winged Simurgh’s back.
Xiao Chen leaped right out and unleashed a Condensed Fire Palm with a backhand strike. "You wanted to eat me? Tonight’s dinner is roasted bird."
"BOOM—!"
Flames leaped up, instantly burning the unlucky Sea-Winged Simurgh to a blackened crisp on the spot.
"SHLICK!"
The Flying Sword flashed past, slicing away the charred exterior and the raw interior to reveal the perfectly cooked meat in the middle.
’To think, I only used sixty percent of my power and it was still a bit much.’
Xiao Chen put his Flying Sword away, resolving to use only half his power next time to get it crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
He watched the grand spectacle unfolding below as he sampled the fresh ingredient.
The falling pieces of meat and viscera hit the water, instantly staining the sea red for a thousand feet around and attracting swarms of nearby Sea Fish to fight over the meal.
This, in turn, attracted even larger Sea Fish, which treated the smaller fish as their own meal.
But this scene didn’t last long. A Golden Core Stage Sea Fish measuring over a thousand feet long was drawn to the commotion, and it swallowed the big fish, the small fish, and all the leftover bird meat in a single gulp.
He had just gone from being prey for a Spirit Bird to eating that same Spirit Bird.
And immediately after, he had witnessed a scene of big fish eating small fish.
Facing such a scene, Xiao Chen felt he was on the verge of some great epiphany.
He thought about it long and hard, and then a flash of insight struck him. ’Hmm, I should’ve brought some Spirit Honey.’
’Everyone says barbecue tastes better with a little honey. Next time I’m at the Marketplace, I need to remember to buy a couple of jars and stick them in the Vast Sea Ring.’